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City, County To Vote On Incentives For National Instruments


More than 2,500 employees already call the North Austin campus of National Instruments home; now a thousand or more employees could be moving in to a proposed research and development center next door.  Both the City of Austin and Travis County are considering offering the company incentives over the next 10 years.  The county is offering $1.3-million and the city is offering $1.5-million.  That's on top of nearly $4.5-million announced by the governor's Texas Enterprise Fund.

In addition to the 1,000 new jobs over 10 years with an average pay of $72,000, the project means an $80-million investment in the site.  The city says the deal would mean a net benefit of $7.6-million over the 10 year agreement.  The company tells the city they'll make a good faith effort to hire locals, working through non-profits to recruit them.  And they’ll  pay $11 an hour minimum for employees and construction workers.  National Instruments is also pledging to work with local youth in programs to get them interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Travis County Commissioners will vote on their incentives at their regular meeting on Tuesday.  Austin City Council will vote on their incentives at their regular meeting on Thursday.  If everything falls into place construction is set to start July 1st.

By Fred Cantú